Tag Archives: taxpayers

From Macon.com: “Showing her Georgia Power bills in the one warm room of her home, Raymeica Kelly explains how her mother, sister and herself were turned away from the Energy Assistance Program on Wednesday morning after standing in line for four hours. All three complained that the system the Macon-Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council uses to give out the assistance needs improving.”

That's a really nice and big HDTV you have, Raymeica! Looks like you have XBox 360, too. Explain to us, again, why taxpayers need to pay your bills, especially since you're gainfully employed again? Raymeica's on Facebook, too. Read her recent comments (below) to those who don't understand her 'needs.' What's wrong with this picture?

“Kelley said she was unemployed for a year before recently landing a job. But her bills have stacked up while she was unemployed, and she needs the assistance.”

Raymeica wrote on her Facebook page, “I cant blieve how people hate to help others in their time of need! hope u never need help…im sure u will…keep livin ‘REAL-TALK.'” She adds, “I do work and have always worked ,never been on welfare, and if you need help why not ask for it I have worked and paid my taxes just like any other citizen. THANK YOU!!!! then on top of that, HOW DO ANYBODY KNOW IF I WAS EVEN AT Y OWN HOUSE? SO STOP ACTING LIKE YU TOO PROUD TO BEG!!! SEE YOU LATER IN LINE PIMPS AND PIMPETTES!!!!”

Well, Raymeica … we know the picture was taken at your house because the photo caption says you’re standing in “one warm room of [your] home.”

Vermont Public Radio reports the state’s Attorney General Bill Sorrell wants the Legislature to enact a “one cent per ounce excise tax on sugar sweetened beverages.” He blames soda for the state’s rising obesity rates, despite Vermont maple syrup having nearly the same calorie count as sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

Mom always said, "Everything in moderation." Mr. Sorrell, nobody's asking you to be their mother.

The sugar in maple syrup is sucrose and invert sugar. White sugar is sucrose, whereas invert sugar is a breakdown product of sucrose. There is no evidence that maple syrup is healthier than white sugar.

Here’s how we see it, Mr. Sorrell: Your state consistently leads the U.S. in the production of maple syrup with 890,000 gallons produced in 2010 alone. That makes Vermont a contributor to the so-called obesity epidemic when millions of consumers nationwide smother steaming hot plates of pancakes with with your state’s pure maple syrup.

In the spirit of fairness, what are your thoughts about asking state legislators nationwide to enact sin taxes on Vermont maple syrup, Mr. Sorrell? All is fair in love and anti-obesity crusades, isn’t that right?

Contact Attorney General Bill Sorrell and ask him why he’s such a huge hypocrite:

Overlawyered.com’s Walter Olsen hits another one out of the ballpark today with his commentary in The Washington Times spotlighting the “growing aggressiveness of ‘public health’ officialdom in pushing scare campaigns about everyday consumption risks:”

The Puritans held that reminders of mortality had an edifying effect on the living, which is why they sometimes would illustrate even literature for young children with drawings of death’s-heads and skeletons. Something of the same spirit seems to animate our ever-advancing movement for mandatory public health. The Food and Drug Administration has just floated the idea of requiring cigarette packs to carry rotating pictures that would include corpses – yes, actual corpses – as well as close-ups of grotesque medical disorders that can afflict smokers.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s superactivist Health Department has begun public ad campaigns about the health risks of everyday foods, including a controversial YouTube video portraying soda drinkers as pouring globs of shimmery yellow fat into their open mouths and – just out – an ad showing an innocent-looking can of chicken-with-rice soup as bursting with dangerous salt. Whether or not you live in New York, you’re likely to be seeing more of this sort of thing because the mayor’s crew tends to set the pace for activist public-health efforts nationwide; the Obama administration, for example, picked Bloomberg lieutenant Thomas R. Frieden to head the influential Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why should government use our own tax dollars to propagandize and hector us about the risks of salted snacks, chocolate milk or the other temptations of today’s supermarket aisle? The Bloomberg-Obama camp seems to feel that government dietary advice is superior to other sources of information we might draw on because (1) it’s more objective, independent and pure of motive and (2) it can draw on better science …

Upton's so environmentally friendly that he just rolls to work in a tire.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) survived the Tea Party’s purge of RINOs from Congress and now he’s angling to become the Chairman of the House Energy Committee. As the NSLF warned voters prior to last week’s election, he can’t be trusted to legislate in the best interests of our nation and its citizens:

This RINO has cast way too many votes enabling Speaker Pelosi and her boss, President Obama, to bankrupt America by any means necessary. On top of that, Upton’s an environmental wingnut who Democrats say is “someone they can work with on energy and climate issues.” Thanks to Fred and his friends across the aisle, beginning in 2012, old-fashioned light bulbs will be phased-out and replaced with those super-expensive ‘energy-efficient’ bulbs. Despite co-sponsoring the light bulb ban, Upton’s now trying to downplay his involvement the bill’s passage.

Ken Yeager is on a crusade to prevent citizens from harming themselves.

The originator of the nation’s first Happy Meal toy ban is now targeting smokers in their own apartments, condominiums and townhouses. Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager declared his intrusive anti-smoking initiative makes this ‘progressive’ California suburb, once again, a “national leader” in keeping citizens safe from themselves:

“The residents of this county deserve strong policies to safeguard their health,” said Board President Ken Yeager, who brought the ordinance to the Board of Supervisors. “These ordinances make Santa Clara County a national leader in blocking tobacco sales to minors and protecting residents from secondhand smoke.”

In addition to an ordinance prohibiting smokers from lighting-up within the confines of their own private residences, Yeager and his nanny state cronies also outlawed smoking at outdoor dining facilities, motels and hotels, reports the San Jose Mercury News.

A new licensing tax that would force tobacco retailers to pony-up “$425 a year for a license, plus a one-time $340 application fee” will be voted on at the board’s Nov. 23 meeting.

Do you support or oppose Ken “Unhappy Meal” Yeager’s continued efforts to dictate to citizens how they should best lead their own lives?

Share your thoughts with Ken Yeager on Facebook (click “Send Ken a Message” below his picture) or contact him the old-fashioned way:

Reason.com’s Radley Balko shines the spotlight on a recent sting operation in Orlando, Fla., that netted dozens of suspected unlicensed barbers at gunpoint:

As many as 14 armed Orange County deputies, including narcotics agents, stormed Strictly Skillz barbershop during business hours on a Saturday in August, handcuffing barbers in front of customers during a busy back-to-school weekend.

It was just one of a series of unprecedented raid-style inspections the Orange County Sheriff’s Office recently conducted with a state regulating agency, targeting several predominantly black- and Hispanic-owned barbershops in the Pine Hills area.

In “sweeps” on Aug. 21 and Sept. 17 targeting at least nine shops, deputies arrested 37 people — the majority charged with “barbering without a license,” a misdemeanor that state records show only three other people have been jailed in Florida in the past 10 years …”

Do you think Orange County is wisely using taxpayer money to fund sting operations on barbershops, especially in a struggling economy? Or, do you think there are other crimes that deserve priority over busting bogus barbers?